David Ortiz Plans To Accept Arbitration

David Ortiz plans to accept Boston's arbitration offer and remain with the Red Sox, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. In that case, Ortiz would be in line for a one-year deal with a slight raise on last year's $12.5MM salary.

Considering there didn't seem to be many suitors for Ortiz on the open market and the reported two-year deal on the table from the Red Sox would have paid just $9MM annually, the decision makes sense. However, there is still time for the two sides to work out a multiyear deal, and ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter link) expects them to continue talking. WEEI's Rob Bradford hears that Ortiz's reps and the Red Sox plan to meet tonight before any decision is made on arbitration.

The 36-year-old is coming off a strong 2011 campaign in which he hit .309/.398/.554 in 605 plate appearances.

Good move by both sides. Ortiz will prob get $14m salary and Red Sox get benefit of it being a 1 year deal. I was hoping someone would sign him away and the Red Sox would use the money elsewhere but this works too.

Ortiz had a great year with a .954 OPS. Why would they NOT want him back? And as others have said, having him back on a 1 year deal was the best case scenario. YES, the Sox are up against the cap, but even so, $$$$ should be the last thing on their mind when it comes to what the expectations are vs where they have finished over the last 2 years.

Their 3b prospect isn’t ready to unseat Youk (thus moving him to DH) and Beltran is going to be very expensive in years and $$$$.

If the Sox had NOT offered him arbitration then he simply wouldn’t be a Sox player in 2012 because SOME team would’ve offered him a 2 year deal, maybe not for $14 mil but I could see a AL team offering 2/$20 if they didn’t have to cough up a draft pick.

It’s not optimal, but it’s the best case scenario short of gaining draft picks because he signed somewhere else. The money isn’t as big of a deal as having to guarantee him multiple years would have been.

Miller’s deal isn’t guaranteed and arbitration never is, so either player could be cut at no expense to the Sox. Plus, while it’s not as ideal as if Ortiz were to accept a deal somewhere else so they gain draft picks, it’s better than guaranteeing him multiple years.

Actually, as scary of a thought that is, I’m afraid you’re may be right. Ellsbury will likely fall a bit, and his value may never be as high. But on the other hand, I would be disgruntle if we traded him and he turns out to be a perennial all star playing at the level he played this year.

Actually, as scary of a thought that is, I’m afraid you’re may be right. Ellsbury will likely fall a bit, and his value may never be as high. But on the other hand, I would be disgruntle if we traded him and he turns out to be a perennial all star playing at the level he played this year.

Earlier on MLB Network Peter Gammons was saying if Boston choses not to go over the luxary tax again for the third year in a row and Ortiz accepts arbitration, they’ll have about 10-15M to fill a bunch of needs. WTF -_-. I hope that’s not true. I want Ortiz back, but at what cost? They have other needs that NEED to be dealt with.

If all that the Red Sox offered is 2/$18 its a no-brainer for Ortiz to accept Arbitration. He will get a minimum of $15 million in arbitration and likely $16 million, just 2-3 million less for 1 year than Red Sox are offering for 2 years.

If the Red Sox are now making insulting offers like that to their key players after all the low-brow moves they made afrer the season its a certainty that the Cubs will make the WS before the Red Sox do it again.

What are you talking about? Obviously no one offered him anything better than the 2/18 that you say is so insulting or he would have accepted it. And if he were so insulted why would he have accepted arb, only to end up back on the team that “insulted” him?

I wouldn’t consider David Ortiz key anymore. The key players on this team are Pedroia, Ellsbury, Gonzalez, Lester, Bard, Buchholz, Beckett (whether you like him or not) & Crawford (since the team is stuck with him). I’d consider Youkilis a key player over Ortiz as well.

Ortiz is a DH. He can’t run the bases. He can’t play the field. He doesn’t hustle. He doesn’t run through first base. He whines to the media. He publicly questioned his manager. He interrupted a press conference to whine about an RBI.

The market dictates what players get. It wasn’t a low-blow offer because it was what the market dictated. The Red Sox just screwed themselves by offering arbitration which they shouldn’t have done in the first place.

I still don’t understand the idea that they shouldn’t have offered Ortiz arbitration. Worst case scenario they end up paying $14-16M for a guy who hit as well as anyone on the team last year, and it’s the only way they get him on a one year deal.

If all that the Red Sox offered is 2/$18 its a no-brainer for Ortiz to accept Arbitration. He will get a minimum of $15 million in arbitration and likely $16 million, just 2-3 million less for 1 year than Red Sox are offering for 2 years.

If the Red Sox are now making insulting offers like that to their key players after all the low-brow moves they made afrer the season its a certainty that the Cubs will make the WS before the Red Sox do it again.

He really wanted multiyear deal and really wanted to play for Boston but Boston has been jerking him around with 2/18 offer. Seriosuly, he will likely get 15MM from arbitration anyways, that offer is quite insulting.

2/18 is a fair offer for an aging, one dimensional, DH and it is obviously the best offer he got, or he would have ended up with someone else. The only reason it might not make sense for him to take it is because of how much he’ll likely make in arbitration.

Offering a player arbitration when you know that he will make $14 million plus and he might not get a 2 year offer from another team that matches that total is far from insulting. The Red Sox knew they were going to be overpaying Papi in order to keep it a one year deal. Papi knows the Red Sox are overpaying him in order to keep it a one year deal. Where’s the insult?

Offering a player arbitration when you know that he will make $14 million plus and he might not get a 2 year offer from another team that matches that total is far from insulting. The Red Sox knew they were going to be overpaying Papi in order to keep it a one year deal. Papi knows the Red Sox are overpaying him in order to keep it a one year deal. Where’s the insult?

They’re not jerking him around. If there was a significantly better offer on the table, he’d be gone. So clearly no team values him as much as he values himself. 2/18 seems very fair for a player like him, but the Red Sox are willing to overpay him to limit the years, and Ortiz also seems to be willing to take a 1 year deal to make the most money.

They’re not jerking him around. If there was a significantly better offer on the table, he’d be gone. So clearly no team values him as much as he values himself. 2/18 seems very fair for a player like him, but the Red Sox are willing to overpay him to limit the years, and Ortiz also seems to be willing to take a 1 year deal to make the most money.

Ideally, I was hoping Ortiz would sign elsewhere and we’d pick up draft picks. But I’m fine with this as well. Ortiz back for another year…worst case scenario is that he sucks and we’ve wasted $15 million. The good thing is that we didn’t give him a multi-year deal. 2 years would’ve been passably acceptable, 3 years would just be…speechless.